


resistance is futile

by orphan_account



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Elements of Outsider POV, M/M, Male Friendship, Mutual Pining, Obliviousness, Team Dynamics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-24
Updated: 2015-09-24
Packaged: 2018-04-22 12:09:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,998
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4834799
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Brad Marchand assimilates Tyler Seguin to the gay. At least that what he thinks.</p><p>Inconveniently, this coincides with the 2011 playoffs.</p>
            </blockquote>





	resistance is futile

**Author's Note:**

  * For [darkrosaleen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/darkrosaleen/gifts).



> I really enjoyed writing for you. I got to some of your wants in a bit of a roundabout way, but I hope you enjoy!

It’s good to have friends not in hockey. Or not in hockey anymore, at least. Otherwise Marchy would have no one to talk to about Tyler Seguin.

 

 

After the draft, Marchy is on the phone with his buddy Benny who has this to say about Seguin: “You got the pretty one. Congratulations!”

Which is true if not exactly fair to what else the kid will probably bring to the team if he makes it out of camp.

After the hashed out debate on the relative values of a scoring winger vs. a scoring center, their evaluation had come down to facial value. Marchy has opinions about how only certain faces could pull off those lips Hall was born with. Benny told him his nose was one to talk, which was so very original.

“You’re an asshole, you know?” Marchy says to deflect. He can’t really take back how he called the whole Taylor-Tyler debacle ‘Beauty vs. Beast’.

“You like assholes. Literally.” That Benny can cackle after saying that and have Marchy stay on the line proves both their points.

 

 

When training camp starts, Marchy's not sure what to make of the rookie. The guy is bright-eyed and all smiles, quick to laugh. Some guys might think he’s not taking this seriously enough. Others might think he's too cocky. Some might just find it kind of a relief that the kid isn’t coming into this so overwhelmed his hockey instincts don’t have a chance to kick in. Not sure where the scales will tip, Marchy keeps his mouth shut and his head in the game most of the time. He wants to make it to the show full-time, just a bit more than he wants to figure the guy out.

A week in - a good number of the cuts already made and Marchy doing mostly as good as he's been hoping to - Seguin has become Segs. Sometimes he’s Seggy to annoy him.

They both tag along to all the after-camp get-togethers and somehow always end up sitting next to each other. Every time Segs listens intently when Marchy talks about the little bits about Boston he picked up last season. He never seems boted even though Marchy was up and down last season and didn't get to spend too much time exploring the city, doesn’t have lots to say. He makes Marchy come with him to a 'real Dunkin Donuts' and his running commentary comparing it to Canadian Dunkin Donuts and Timmy's strangely doesn't bother Marchy, who tends to like to do most of the talking.

Through all this, Marchy tries not to get too attached. He's as clingy as Segs seems to be, loves getting to wrap himself around his homeboys - and Segs is quickly becoming that - but he's not sure if his going mostly for guys is going to be a problem. He’s not sure if how he’s sure he sometimes looks at Segs is goong to be a problem.

Marchy has no problem admitting to himself at this point that Segs has caught his eye. Some might find Segs way out of his league. He sort of thinks that too. He has never had someone as hot as him. But in Marchy's experience these types of guys are usually straight and it goes one of two ways. Either they're flattered or appalled you noticed their appeal. The first can be just as awkward as the second.

Marchy has never made a habit of padding anyone's ego. Ego is the enemy is most locker rooms. It's a luxury of the real deals, the superstars. In teams with guys like that as the centerpiece, you put in your time letting them gloat just a little, getting them to do it. It's for the team just as much as the chirping that keeps everyone else humble.

Bruins hockey isn't built around those sorts of guys. While Segs has the talent to be that eventually, he doesn't seem to have any airs about him anyway.

Segs is easygoing and easy to be around. It makes it easy to get dragged to places, to smile back all the times that Segs is beaming at him. He lets Segs sit close. When they walk, their shoulders bump. Segs will put his weight into it, isn't wary of Marchy's size. Marchy appreciates that. He appreciates the little moments and tells himself they don't count as getting attached. They just won't spend their entire days together.

Marchy's careful. Get close to the flame and you get burned. First and easiest lesson with straight boy crushes.

As training camp comes to a close, the resolution to not spend entire days together has become the resolution to not spend every day together.

“If you can make it to the All-Star Break without propositioning him, I’ll buy you dinner. Throw in a couple drinks too,” Benny says.

“No deal,” Marchy tells him. “No way what sounds like a date with you is going to inspire any self-control in me. Hang on, I need to take a dick pic to sext him with right now.”

"Definitely nothing'll come from that. Or no one, I should say. My job here is done."

"Hero, definitely. Still got to make it through the pre-season, make it to the team. He might still get sent down. See some time in Providence."

Marchy might still get sent down, not that he'll let it happen. He's making new friends and his old reasons for wanting NHL ice time are still good.

 

 

They make the team.

In December, when Marchy is out after the Subban hit, they make each other watch all their favorite movies. There is a surprising amount of overlap in their lists by the time Marchy makes his way back into the lineup.

They make more Boston memories in the audience at the TD Garden instead of on the ice and side by side at bars in Faneuil Hall. Segs and Marchy visit the actual Broad Street, find cheap booze and cheaper college students to spend the evening with. Their contracts make them popular and Segs is a big spender. They make stupid bets but don't have too many regrets.

They learn that they make good wingmen for each other. They fail to learn to make clam chowder, but they do learn to where to find the best in town.

They make each other laugh, on and off the ice.

They make it to the All-Star Break without being anything more than buddies. Marchy makes Benny for ever doubting he could last this long.

They make the playoffs.

 

 

The first round Segs gets stuck in the press box and the two of them stick close. Maybe closer than usual. No one blinks an eye. Segs' moping goes unacknowledged by most guys. Ferknuckle drags his knuckles through his hair and holds him closer than bro hug distance. Marchy trash talks the Habs with him, same as any other game. By Game 7, Marchy's got to start getting creative because P.K. can only be so big a target.

They win and Segs and Marchy both get blasted for completely different reasons. There's not much of a break before they see Philly so it's not the best idea exactly.

When they crash, it's at Marchy's place. It's closer, according to Segs. There's not enough coordination or will between the two of the to set up something else up for Segs so they both end up sacked out on Marchy's bed. Probably not the best idea either.

Marchy wakes up to the sun in his face and Segs wrapped around his back. It would be nice if the pounding in Marchy's temples would just go away.

They stay in all day, stealing food and the blankets from each other. 

 

 

A win on the road and one as definitive as that is always worth celebrating. It's been so long since Marchy got fucked and 3-point night means he definitely deserves it.

They're out again, but everyone's keeping themselves in check more. There's no such thing as a 7-game sprint and even after tonight, they can't guarantee anything about how the series will go. Either way, when it ends, Marchy's definitely gonna be pouring himself a bit more than he's downing tonight.

He has a nice buzz going on, seen a guy he's checked out look him over too. They meet eyes. Must not be a hockey fan.

Marchy's just finishing up his last beer, looking to slip away, when Segs stumbles up to him. He was half-off the barstool so he ends up jarred into the counter.

"Hey, hey, sorry," Segs whispers into his neck. He rubs his hand over Marchy's hip, even though it's his side that took most of the impact. It's a little closer than even he gets usually. Must be taking his exile off the ice pretty hard still. Segs is no lightweight and is usually a rowdy, happy drunk. Flirty too.

Marchy thought he'd left with someone already. He hooked up practically every night in Montreal. He got like some nights after home games. He was like this the other night. Marchy's got nothing against some buddy cuddling as a way to spend the night in, but Segs is being a major cockblock right now.

Sure enough when Marchy looks up the guy is gone. He'd bitch about that but he is neither drunk nor desperate enough to give himself away. Especially not at this point when his personal boner - his little crush, as both his sister and Benny have called it - has matured into something else he's not willing to put a name to.

He takes Segs home again. He expects his buddy to pass out on him, give him some personal time in the shower. Segs pulls him down on the bed instead. Marchy could relegate him to couch. He should after Segs ruined his plans for the night. But he'd actually rather be the little spoon.

He's taken by surprise when Segs turns him over. You get manhandled by your teammates a lot. That's nothing new. What is new is the hand wrapped around his nape, the tips of their noses touching, and the soft Marchy doesn't want to call it a purr in Segs' voice when he says, "Brad."

Segs says, "Hey, hey, sorry," again. Marchy would worry about how blatant he must have been with that guy at the bar, but Segs lips are kind of in the way of his train of thought.

Marchy's so overwhelmed he sort of lets Segs take the lead. Segs pushes his shirt off, only fumbling with the buttons a little. He's kissing Marchy everywhere now, with little nips and licks at his neck. Soft, biting kisses down his chest.

When he's level with Marchy's navel, after he's dug his fingers into his hipbones and bitten a vivid mark right under his belly button, he tells Marchy, "I want to blow you." There's a slight tremble in his voice, somehow not as smooth as the rest of this dreamlike evening has been.

Marchy doesn't get fucked that night, but he has to admit the inexpert blowjob and the mess Segs makes on sheets without Marchy having even touched him is even better than what he wanted.

 

 

Boundaries get kind of lost on a team even with the guys who don't think they'll stick around. The taboo talk in the group isn't your 'personal life' - it's things like whether or not someone's on the trading block, it's how 'mild' or not someone's concussion might be. So Marchy has brought up not-quite dating dilemmas to the boys before. They're mostly married or on the way to it. They were mostly helpful with things like ‘Is it still friends with benefits if it's long distance?' and 'Why do I need it so bad after games, even the fucking awful ones?'

Some things you keep out of the room. 'Will sleeping with a trainer matter? Is that going to get me sent down?' That shit toes the line of things you can and can't say.

The problem's not really asking stuff anyway. It's answering or avoiding answering the inevitable follow-up questions - which either way is bound to be impossible.

One of the unspoken rules of the room is that anything’s fair game if it gets brought up. Bringing it up has a pretty loose definition too. In shared hotel rooms and on the road, hockey players acquire a sixth sense – or maybe a seventh one, after hockey sense. You can’t keep things from them, not for long. Subtlety is not a thing either, so prying’s a common hobby and clever leading questions a crowd-pleasing skill.

All the boys have their own ways of getting it out of you if you don’t just come out with it. Boych has his gentle jokes and not so gentle jabs of the elbow. Big Z doesn’t even say anything, unless you count the questions clear in his eyes. 

Marchy admits to being the impatient asshole kind who harasses it out of people when none of the other methods work – or before they can be tried, sometimes. Keeping things inside can cause problems for sure. Best to nip it in the bud. Martyrdom’s only cool if you’re on IR, etc.

He’s not sure then if relief or panic is the proper response when there is no prodding. Marchy can't even deflect to no-go for talking territory. He feels great, has been playing that way too. His distractions are 100% the personal kind, the type you work out in the room to keep it off the ice.

Probably it's cruel to think that it's good that Segs isn't in the lineup for now. Although it's probably really the only reason anything happened last night.

Marchy can take the dad jokes and dad looks any day, but usually he has nothing to share and nothing to hide. Last night he turned their rookie gay.

The team has taken care of the open secret of his proclivities since he made it up last year and they made him. Some dark corners of bars aren't dark enough when you're drunk and don't care.

It's never been a problem exactly, his hookups and his hockey intersecting. Most guys try not to be uncomfortable. Marchy's an asshole enough not to care about the guys who don't bother. On the B's it's been different. They're almost welcoming of it. It doesn't matter. Except it would probably matter this time.

He thought he did okay playing it cool with Segs. He stuck to women when they went out together. If he'd pictured how he'd manage to get him into bed somehow, he'd always thought they wouldn't be alone. They'd show a lucky lady a good night and Marchy would take any accidental touch he could get.

If that got brought up there'd be a few raised brows and murmurs but if it was kept to thmselves - and by extension, within the team, it's not anything that like playing yourself into a trade or getting your bell rung. It's just a thing that happened, a story.

Marchy and better judgment tend to meet after the fact, so he's done the sleeping with a teammate thing before. It was usually more mutual though. Just buddies helping each other out when there was a lack of opportunities elsewhere, even the straight guys gave in once in a while. Sometimes it would be buddies letting off a little steam. Hockey can be hell and the only guys who get it sometimes are the ones you went through the tire fire with.

Last night might've been some half-celebratory version of the latter, but it felt a bit different too. Either way, that's stuff you don't talk about, period. It could fuck up the room.

At the same time, Marchy needs to tell someone. When first Benny hears of the hookup with Segs he says, “At last, Marchy? Good for you." Which isn't really the response Marchy expected from his crisis over fucking with someone else's sexuality.

He also says, "Man, I knew it. Nobody so pretty escapes the O completely straight. Not with a mouth like that.”

It’s just as crude as Marchy has come to expect from him. “I thought _you_ were completely straight,” he says. He doesn't say anything else about that night because Marchy might fuck and tell, but he’s not into coming up with full reviews for friends who presumably aren’t going to end up sampling the product themselves.

That was the end of that mostly. When you're the only one making a big deal of something. It's probably not a big deal, right?

 

 

“I’m turning him gay gay,” Marchy says right there off the bat because there’s no getting around it anymore.

Benny, on the other line, groans and asks, “Does he call you to talk about his feelings?”

"He’s always done that,” Marchy says. Then he adds in a helpless whisper, “This has never happened before. The straight ones always stay straight.”

“Yeah, I don’t get what you mean by that. Straight dudes having gay sex? Gay.”

“Have you never watched the porn before? Half of the guys are straight.”

“I have not watched gay porn before, no. In the porn I watch, all the men are straight. I mean, probably right? Is there a straight version for gay for pay?”

He’s stumping him there because, uh, what?

He seems to sense that though, says, “Yup, off-topic now. I thought we were talking about your gayifying powers.”

“He told me today that Crosby was a good-looking guy!” Segs also said that it must be a Nova Scotia thing, which was weird.

Benny laughs at him, loud enough to deepen Marchy’s frown. “A. Why were you talking about Crosby’s looks? And, B. He’s not like entirely wrong, is he? Or does saying that make me gay too?”

“I didn’t bring up his looks!” Marchy says a bit too quickly not to sound defensive.

He thinks it would be kind of weird to tell Segs how he had the hots for Sid when he was younger, before they met. Before he and Sid met, he means. To get to the NHL, you have to have a different gauge for too much. Sid was too much, too intense. He waseasy to get caught up in at first, with a fascination that burned bright and faded fast.

They’re friends now, the way he is with anyone he isn’t on any team with but still wants to play with him. He gets texts of best wishes, that sort of thing. He explains that to Benny. “Some people care that the Bruins made it to the Finals. Some people wish their buddies good luck. Unlike some assholes. That’s how it came up.” He doesn’t address the thing about Sid’s attractiveness with Benny either. That’s a private shame.

“It’s not gay to think Crosby isn’t ugly. It’s totally gay to suck your cock. You definitely turned him gay, like weeks ago. You can stop stressing about that stupid shit and start stressing about that crazy shit Kesler."

“You almost feel sorry for Nashville. He has been crazy. Crazy good."

“Like you haven't been hot yourself? You want me to suck your cock now too?”

Marchy snorts at that mental image, “You’d bite it off before you’d suck it.”

“Yeah, I know it’s bite-sized.”

Marchy laughs through the rest of the phone call, getting in some chirping practice. The ‘Nucks can push them to a long series and those go by faster for Marchy when he knows the guys on the other side have got their backs up.

 

 

They've made it the Stanley Cup Finals. If he has something going on that’s made it to the months long milestone that the sort of thing everyone here would know about.

They've made it to another Game 7. They’re all still living in each other’s pockets, now more than ever, but they’re also living in their own heads. Marchy expects some awkwardness, but that seems to all be in his head too.

Segs has been surprisingly good at keeping it on the down low. He got his chance after the Philly sweep and that probably helps. He isn't mopey, clingy, needy anymore. Brad keeps taking him home because _he_ 's gotten a bit clingy and needy. He'd be mopey if this ends, if it's just a post-season thing Segs is keeping going because it's convenient.

When they’re with the team, it’s the same. They’re still buddies and Segs will have his goofy smile plastered on.

When it's the two of them, Segs sometimes calls him Brad instead of Marchy and not always when he’s about to come all over himself. He sleeps over every time he can get away with it, makes breakfast half the time, and knows exactly how to make Marchy’s cup of coffee.

“Sounds like dating without the going out,” Benny says with a sleepy mumble and without the smirk in it that Marchy would expect. It’s through a yawn that he adds, “Staying in’s the best part anyway.” Words a committed man, truly. Benny’s older than Marchy and engaged. It occurs to Marchy that he’s also totally not who he should be seeking unbiased advice from. He has a rooting interest in getting Marchy to get over himself.

Marchy has done the sleeping with a teammate thing before. He hasn't done the dating a teammate thing. He hasn't done _dating_ since he was 17 and he had his first girlfriend.

After this game, he is so going to get wasted. Champion or not. Cup or no Cup. He's had the best times with Segs through a haze of alcohol and whether this is dating on the down-low or just Cup run sex with tight friendship benefits, it's going to be fun.

 

 

After the riots, the parade, and the fun Marchy predicted it's Benny who calls him.

"Saw pictures of the new ink, bud. Matchings tats, it's like you're married already!"

Too high on everything, too drunk on what they've accomplished, and too _giddy_ on the new knowledge that Segs has wanted him back from the start Marchy just huffs out a good-natured laugh. He tells Benny, "I'll introduce you to my hubby at the Cup party, bastard," which is as nice an invite as this guy is gonna get.

They talk a little bit about that, about Marchy's other offseason plans.

On the bed next to him, either hungover or still drunk, Segs is tangled in the sheets and turning over and over. Benny must hear him because he abandons talking plans to hit some beach some time. "I see why you're in a good mood," he teases.

"We were in a party with, what? A hundred, two hundred people? He asks if he could fuck me," Marchy says. It doesn't sound as mortified or as exasperated as he wants it to come off, even though those were the main emotions that flushed through him along with intense arousal last night.

"You let him," Benny fills in the story for him, never a details guy. Marchy did, repeatedly. He was kind of impressed Segs could still get it up after all that champagne and everything else.

The question is sincere, not tired-sounding when Benny asks, "If you'd lost, would this have been one of those little emergencies too?"

"We won, motherfucker," Marchy says because that still feels awesome. "Besides we don't really have any more emergencies in us, I don't think."

"You say that now, eh? It'll be Defcon 5 when he says 'I love you' for sure."

Marchy doesn't tell him, "He's always said that." It was different, maybe, even though Brad knows now they felt the same - were awkward losers sometimes because of the same feelings. It might end up another little emergency he won't take to the team, but he could weather this one. No need to be paranoid about some guy who loves you, who loves you _back_.

**Author's Note:**

> Brad Marchand's not-hockey-anymore buddy Benny is purely fictional and not based on a real person. He is also mistaken about Defcon 5 being on the high end of the scale. Defcon 5 is for 'normal peacetime conditions'.
> 
> The summary was inspired by a Text From Last Night, from the 617 area code of course.


End file.
